The Pros and Cons of SCADA Systems Today

SCADA means Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, and they are the systems that
operate and monitor processes. Critical infrastructures rely on SCADA. SCADA networks
were originally designed to function within a isolated environment and it was more focused
on prioritizing efficient operations instead of security. Because of this there aren’t
encryption methods or stronger authentication methods which make the systems
extremely vulnerable to cyber-attacks. SCADA systems now rely on networking
technologies like TCP/IP or Ethernet to allow integration and remote monitoring. This is
beneficial because it allows the engineers who need to do work on it to access the systems
remotely. However, it is also dangerous because if the internet isn’t as secure then cyber
attackers could gain access and cause issues.
If cyberhackers were able to gain access to the network, they could cause serious issues
like shutting down power systems or disrupting the water treatment operations that are out
there. There are still advantages to using SCADA systems including the ability for the
systems to provide monitoring of industrial processes in real time. Since that can happen
operators can observe the conditions of the system and detect issues quickly. There are
alarms and notifications that will go off when something happens like a high temperature
or equipment malfunctioning. This allows for early detection and gives the operators a
chance to correct the situation before it is too late.

http://www.scadasystems.net
https://inductiveautomation.com/resources/article/what-is-scada
https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/scada-and-scada-systems